Marketing

Looking for ways to increase the motivation of the the students in your Marketing courses? A digital learning solution may help.

Our recent analysis of MindTap usage across the 2014-2015 academic year demonstrates that using MindTap can have a significant and positive impact on student learning and outcomes. When MindTap counts for at least 20% of their grade, Marketing students are engaging in course material more and performing better.Read More…

When asked about their teaching challenges, college instructors often share a common refrain—the desire to 1) engage their students in their coursework and 2) foster critical thinking.

With so many of today’s students fixated on digital devices, it’s logical that digital products can serve as a gateway to improving student engagement and analytical thinking, and consequently, learning. Examining the best practices of instructors who use digital solutions in their courses can spark ideas and reveal effective strategies for addressing seemingly intractable teaching and learning problems.

Cengage Learning’s MindTap® has generated positive outcomes in a variety of business and computer courses, and been lauded by instructors and students alike. This white paper summarizes quantitative studies as well as the individual experiences of a few instructors who have found MindTap to be both effective and appealing.

As a marketing instructor, Professor Beth Deinert of Southeast Community College (SCC) in Nebraska is knowledgeable about the concept of trends. Some time ago she saw a disturbing trend — traditional textbooks creating “readability difficulties” for too many students. The annual uptick in traditional textbook prices was also disconcerting. The fact that her courses were taught online further complicated her selection of an appropriate course solution.

Professor Deinert’s eventual adoption of a 4LTR Press title, MKTG, addressed these diverse concerns and produced positive results. Professor Deinert especially liked the format of MKTG. The textbook was designed by a student-tested, faculty-approved development process, used for all 4LTR Press solutions and determined to maximize student engagement and access across learning styles.

Along with the engaging presentation in the core text, Professor Deinert found the inclusion of CourseMate with MKTG and other 4LTR Press titles to be an important benefit to her students, both because of the online environment in which she teaches and the value of these online resources when evaluated on their own merits.

A year after adopting MKTG, Professor Deinert cites higher retention, improved homework grades, and “more in-depth” and detailed answers and examples in student work as proof that her choice of MKTG was a good one.

Holly Hapke is a lecturer at the University of Kentucky’s Gatton College of Business and Economics. Like many instructors in business courses, Holly uses cases to promote analytical thinking and to help her marketing students connect concepts to real-world applications. Not so long ago, the manual grading of three case assignments each term for as many as 600 students became an overwhelming task. “It was too time consuming to grade assignments for all of the students, so I started looking for another solution for homework,” she says.

Holly was using a Cengage Learning textbook, so it was a logical step to look at the digital assets that supported it. One of those resources was MindTap™, an interactive online learning experience built upon the textbook’s content. More than an eBook and different from a learning management system, MindTap allows students to guide themselves through their course — combining cases, readings, multimedia, activities, and assessments into a consistent learning path, with all relevant resources instantly accessible. In addition, MindTap exercises are automatically graded, which was good news to Holly. Read More…